Development and Prospect of Music Therapy in Japan

Abstract

I have a strange sense that music therapy is something that never fits completely into an existing society, regardless of Western or Asian context. Just aiming at being accepted by society will only drive us to a dead end. Rather, music therapy could conceive the possibility of shaking (aspects of) an existing society and could suggest new (or deeper) values of music in relation to human-beings. For this purpose, we need to cultivate our insights about the culture-specific elements and the universal elements in all areas of clinical, academic, and professional practice. By doing so, we can accomplish "independence" in a true sense, including economic independence some day.